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Published: March 16th 2008
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Pickled Mao Anyone?
This is a shot of one of the revolutionary statues in Tiannamen Square. In the background you can see Mao's mausoleum where his body is traditionally on display free to the public. However, on this particular day, the corpse was not available for viewing in order to honor the National People's Congress, which was in session. Last weekend was my first major side-trip since I have been in China. My roommate Aaron and I undertook the massive task of seeing the sights of Beijing in a mere three days. Our plan was to take a sleeper train up there on Thursday night so that we could arrive by Friday morning and spend all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday sightseeing then return by sleeper train on Sunday night and arrive back in Changzhou in time for our classes on Monday. The first part of the plan went well. Our sleeper train ride on Friday night was long, but we made it to Beijing by about 9:00 in the morning and headed straight to Tiannamen Square. We got ripped off on the taxi ride over, but otherwise we arrived safe and sound. Tiannamen Square was cool, but not quite as engaging as I had expected. Mao's mausoleum and the Great Hall of the People were closed because the People's Congress was in session that day. As much as I wanted to see Mao's pickled corpse, I tried to hold back my disappointment and take in the rest of the sights like the Monument to the People’s Heroes, the National
Gateway to The Forbidden CIty
This is the famous gate to the Forbidden City located at the far north of Tiannamen Square that features Mao's portrait. Museum of China, and of course the famous Tiannamen gate to the Forbidden City. As we headed closer to the gate, we got a better view of the famous Mao portrait, and we decided to devote the rest of the day to touring the Forbidden City since there was a lot to see there. Unfortunately, the Forbidden City turned out to be a bit of a tourist trap. We had to pay an admission fee and then pay additional fees to get into various exhibits, only a few of which were interesting. By the time we reached the Emperor's Garden at the far end of the palace complex, we were pretty exhausted. After that we proceeded to find the hotel we had booked, and crash for the night.
Day two started bright and early since we were booked to take a tour out of town to see the major sights beyond the city limits. The first of these was the famous Ming Tombs, final resting place of 13 Ming emperors since this particular location happened to be enclosed by mountains and on the north side of a river which meant it was very auspicious and had good feng shui. We
Crazy Dragon
This is me in front of the famous Nine Dragon Screen inside the Forbidden City. It was built to keep out evil spirits, and as you can see each of the nine dragons carved on the screen was quite fierce looking. toured the first and larges of the tomb sights, but it proved to be a bit disappointing since we could not actually enter the tomb itself. The next thing on our itinerary was a stop at Beijing Jade Carving Factory where we saw some impressive carvings, learned the difference between jade and jadeite, and were told how to spot fake jade. From there we went to lunch and then visited a traditional Chinese medical facility. I was diagnosed as having too much heat in my kidneys, and they of course tried to sell me some expensive herbal remedies for this condition which I declined. The final and biggest attraction of the day was a stop at one of the sections of the Great Wall that was just north of the city. Again, this attraction proved a little disappointing because it was such a tourist trap. It was literally swarming with both Western and Chinese tourists. The only consolation was the chance to snap some scenic photos of the wall winding into the distance. That pretty much concluded day two of the Beijing excursion, but we did get a chance to check out the Olympic village area on the way back
Phoenix Crown
This is from the collection of imperial treasures inside the Forbidden City. It is the phoenix crown worn by the Empress. Dragons were the traditional symbol of the Emperor, but the Phoenix was the symbol of the Empress. I thought this was the most impressive piece in the royal treasure collection. to town.
Day three was a bit more relaxed. We began by taking a trip to the Temple of Heaven. It was a very impressive carved wooden structure that was also a bit of a tourist trap. They made you pay an increasing amount every time you entered another gate and progressed toward the main temple. Once you actually got to the main temple, it was hard to actually see inside with the legions of tourists crowded against the rails. Once we finished up, we decided that we would visit the Summer Palace that afternoon. I am glad we saved the Summer Palace for last since it turned out to be the best attraction we saw in Beijing. It was like a giant park centered on a massive lake with temples and palace building dotted throughout. Although it was also crowded, it was possible to find secluded areas near the lake to sit peacefully and collect your thoughts. If I lived in Beijing, I would spend a lot of time there. We spend an entire afternoon exploring this massive area that was in the middle of Beijing, but still felt very secluded. Finally, we left for the train station after
Ming Tombs
This is part of the Ming tomb complex that we visited. The actual tomb is behind me. This is just an elaborate entry hall. The small gate in the middle symbolizes the gateway between this world and the next, and the Chinese believe that to step through it is to leave your soul behind. a brief detour to Pizza Hut (we were really craving it at this point). We were disappointed to discover that our tickets on the way back were in fact booked inside a normal sitting train compartment, not a sleeper car. This ensured a long miserable night of attempting to sleep on the way back. When I was finally awakened by the train whistle as we arrived home the next morning, I had about two minutes to get off the train before it left. In the hustle, I left behind my VW cap, but we did make it back in time to grab two hours of sleep and make our Monday classes. That is the tale of our Beijing weekend. Until next time, Peace,
Chris
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Kate
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You know, if you're not going to provide me with my proper fix of Pickled Mao then I'm going to stop reading this stupid blog altogether. GEEZ.